


AntiVirus

by Setheris



Series: Fragmented [2]
Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-22
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-04-27 12:52:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5049337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Setheris/pseuds/Setheris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Handsome Jack doesn't like surprises.</p>
<p>End of EP4 of TFTB - Rule Ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	AntiVirus

Handsome Jack doesn't like surprises. One moment he was laughing triumphantly as Cupcake finally finished the upload to the Helios mainframe and the next he was abruptly beamed away. Gone was his office, Dum-Dum was nowhere to be seen and the room he was in was barren and boring.

"Just when it got juicy! Where the fuck am I?"

He really was this close into getting everything back, his death was only a minor detour into getting even more powerful than before. His plan to highjack the system, accessing the violent security measures he had installed everywhere on Helios and to finally blow someone the fuck up, to feel powerful and feared again, everything was put on halt for this bullshit. Someone must have done this and that idiot is going to die.

"I know, that someone is messing with me right now. And it was good, caught me off guard, I'll give you that. But Daddy doesn't want to play right now, so how about you teleport me back to my office and I won't, you know, torture you and kill you or something," Jack began pacing. He waited for an answer that didn't come.

"Leeeet me tell you something. I'm getting real worked up right now, you kinda interrupted me in getting everything I've ever worked for back, so, I give you a little bit of time to put some make-up on, because when I'm going to choke that insolent fucking throat, I want at least something half-pretty to look at!"

Jack was only met with silence. He clenched his fists in anger. He also remembered that if the dipshit would show up, he couldn't follow through with his threat. Being incorporeal sucked so much. Wait a minute, he was _incorporeal_.

  
"What is this shit?! Do you think this will stop me? Newsflash asshole, I'm an A.I. right now. Heh. Walls won't keep me in. "  
Jack walked up to one wall and touched it with his hand, expecting it to go through. He was instead met with resistance.

  
"What the..."

  
Something wasn't right here. He should've been able to just phase through it like everything else he touched before. He shouldn't be able to _feel_. Jack lifted his other hand and put it on the wall. He started to push, but it had no effect.

  
He stroked the surface and marvelled at the first solid thing that he was able to touch, since he came online. Instinctively he knew that it wasn't real. Going through his memories, he could discern that the feeling wasn't the same. Close, but different. More... electrical. He stared at the wall and squinted. _Aha_.

  
The wall didn't really exist, well, it did but only virtually. He could make out the lines of codes and parameters it was set in. He can hack this and—

  
"Dad."

  
"Angel?!" Jack whirled around. A young black-haired woman stood there, for a moment he thought that it couldn't be his little girl, his daughter. But he would recognize those blue eyes everywhere. He quickly strode towards her with his arms wide open.

  
"Angel, baby girl! I'm so glad to see you! Woah, look at you! You've grown so much. How long was I even dead, ah, well, that's not important right now. I'm getting back on track, don't you worry, sweetheart. What is a little death to spice up your life? Or unlife? Heh."

  
As he approached her, she simply smiled and hugged him back tightly.  
"I've missed you, Dad. You left me...," Angel said. "You were gone for so long."

  
"I missed you too, baby girl. I never intended to leave you. You know, I didn't just _choose_ to die. What a plot-twist for the hero to die! But I'm back and they're all going to _pay_ for what they did to me. He held her in his arms and stroked her dark hair. Jack thought, that he would never feel her again.

  
He felt her shaking. Jack rubbed her back gently, he watched as she couldn't hold back her tears.

  
"You left me!" she cried. "I was all alone..."

  
"Shhh. It's okay, I won't do it again. After I get my power, my life back, everything's going to be just fine."

  
Angel suddenly looked up, the tears were gone, she shoved her father away with surprising strength. Jack fell down, shocked, he looked at her and all he could see was rage. "Angel?!"

  
" _Liar_." With that she disappeared in an explosion of blinding light. Covering his eyes, he heard the walls around him shifting and crumbling. For a moment, he thought he would be buried underneath all this code lines. Slowly, the light dimmed and he cautiously opened his eyes.

  
The room was gone, replaced by a big hall. The more he looked around, the more he could recognize the place. In the middle of the chamber stood the Hyperion control core, which had three unfamiliar big pipes fused into it.

  
"Do you remember?" Angel's bodiless voice boomed through the chamber. This wasn't right and Jack felt that something was amiss. It filled him with foreboding dread. "I will make you remember. You will never forget this again."

  
"What do you mean, baby girl, what are you doing?" He asked. Jack got up, trying to find were the voice was coming from.

  
"You left me in a cage. You cut off my wings. You made me accept my punishment for being what I am." The core sprang open, revealing his sleeping daughter.

  
"No, sweetheart, I didn't... I would never." Jack argued.

  
"You did. You used me." There was a hum and rhythmic pumping. the machines were suddenly moving. Panels were shifting, revealing the content inside the pipes. There was something familiar about the eerie purple light that was emitted, but he couldn't remember. A loud screech echoed in the chamber. It made Jack flinch.

  
And then Angel suddenly convulsed inside the core, her mouth opened in a silent scream. She was suffering.

  
Jack ran towards her, his only instinct to protect her but was immediately thrown back by a barrier.

  
"Who is hurting you?! Stop! She is innocent! Angel!" He scrambled to the barrier, he saw her cry out in pain again, he saw her bleed. "I will kill them! I will kill everyone, stop hurting my little girl, stop, stop!" he screamed, banging his fists brutally against the shield. He was helpless, he couldn't do anything, except watch her suffer. Couldn't take her into his arms, couldn't take her pain away. He was _useless_ , it made him mad. "I'm gonna kill them all! Every child, every man and every woman on this fucking planet is going to die. This is my vow, this is my vo—"

  
Jack stopped screaming at whoever dared to hurt his kid when he heard her gasp, he could only fall to his knees as he watched her take her last breath, the purple substance filled her mouth, filled her eyes until she was no longer there anymore. His mind was scrambled, he couldn't comprehend anything. This was not real, it couldn't be. Jack gulped in air, he couldn't get enough, he was trembling. His world fell apart. Where was his gun?

  
He felt a hand on his back, he flinched and quickly turned, ready to strangle, ready to kill, ready to bury his feelings in blood and gore and violence.

  
"Jack, it's ok. It's over now." Angel, his little girl, not the woman he saw die, was on her knees next to him. Her little hand still outstretched. Was he hallucinating? She was alive, she was dead, she was alive...

  
"Don't do this to me, sweetheart. Don't you d-dare...!" Jack cried. "I can't take this..."

  
"I'm dead," she smiled sadly. "I'm already long gone."

  
"No, no, no, no, no, no. You are not. T-this isn't funny! Ok, ok, you got me haha, you got me, stop now, I'm begging you, st¬—"

  
"What you see is what is left of me. I contain the memories of Angel, I can simulate her appearance. I'm her, but also I'm not. She killed herself, Jack, because you gave her no other choice. I'm just a _piece_ that got left behind. For you."

  
She lifted her right arm, the marks of a siren were glowing brightly and he bathed in her radiance.

  
Jack saw the truth now, the lines of code he identified earlier ran also through her. She was not real. Only a program, like Jack. The only thing that was left of his daughter. Because his daughter was gone, Angel was dead. And it was his fault.

  
Jack reached out with a trembling hand. Angel sheltered his big hand inside of hers. "My death is your punishment. The consequence of your actions. A reminder of what you've done."

  
"I did this to protect you, you had everything you could ever wanted. Angel, you were everything to me! I just had to protect you! Everything I ever done was for you!"

  
"Dad. I know," she said softly, knowing that the innocence in her voice would make him listen. "You had good intentions at the beginning, I know, but you got really, really sick. All the things that you've done in my name, all the sacrifices you made? It warped your already damaged mind. I could see it, but I couldn't stop it. You were already unreachable. And in the end I simply wanted to be free."

  
Angel pulled him forward. White wings sprouted from her back and then she was sheltering him within her warm embrace. Jack felt for the first time a sense of tranquillity, something he never had when he was alive.

  
"I couldn't lose another parent, but I knew that you had to be stopped, because you grew to be a monster. A starving monster who would only want more and more. More power, more blood and sacrifice." she whispered. "So, I orchestrated your death."

  
Jack's mind was suddenly bombarded with scenes of the past. Memories that he shouldn't have had. In a heartbeat he saw _her_ memories of him, snippets of the good early years and the many, many bad years that would soon follow. Jack watched through her eyes, the madness overtake him. The insane need to protect her, to shield her from any harm, was ironically the thing that would hurt her the most. Jack imprisoned her and later on he used her for his own selfish needs. Always justifying himself, that everything he did was for her. But that was a lie. Jack saw Angel suffer through all his actions until she finally decided to end it. Killing herself, to escape her own father. What a bitter conclusion.

  
"I never wanted this for you, Angel." It was true, he knew it was. But after seeing it from her perspective, it was as if finally a veil has been lifted and the truth was revealed.

  
"You left me no choice, Dad. My story had to end someday, you had seen to it. Without the Eridium injections, I wouldn't have been able to survive... Would never have been able to fly again. But I couldn't just die without doing something right. I still loved you, despite everything, dad. I wanted you back."

  
She stroked his hair, the motions similar to when Jack would do the same for her when she had trouble sleeping. Jack felt like he was underwater, the waves gently rocking him into sleep.

  
"Angel, I'm... I..." Jack murmured. "I'm sorry."

  
"Oh dad. I know. I _know_. Everything's going to be fine. Just close your eyes, don't worry about me. I want you to be _you_ again. Tomorrow will be another day and tomorrow you will live your story properly. A second chance for you. Don't you dare waste it. You owe me your life. Promise me, ok, dad?"

Jack knew it was her last wish. As if he could deny her.

"...cross my heart and hope to die, baby girl."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone who came this far!  
> Just a few infos about the writer & future of this series.  
> \--I'm a total newbie. Like really, really inexperienced. So everything you are reading right now, could be (slightly) changed in the future (when I'll hopefully improve my writing). I might change a few things, but if it's a really big thing, then I'll give a heads up or something.  
> English is a bit difficult to write in, because sometimes I've trouble with the word flow. This work as example, still feels and sounds a bit sloppy to me. Sorry!  
> \--I've a lot planned! "Fragmented" is going be a bit of misc scenes from the Borderlands Universe. More of a "What is character A/B doing" or "Background info" kind of thing. Everything will be contributing to one big Rhack fic. The actual reason, I wanted to write stuff. Rhys is going to be the overall protagonist and I've practically already written the first chapter of it with drafts of future chapters, but I'm doing an overhaul, because I'm still figuring things out.  
> \--If you expect regular updates or professional writing, then you should maybe reconsider reading this series, just FYI. D:  
> Thank you!


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